Our Historical/Hysterical Home?

You will be amazed that I lived here!

My neighbor thinks when I get to heaven I will get a purple heart! 

We purchased our home in December 1, 1971.  The house was built in 1870.  The original house was 4 rooms much like some other properties near mine.    The house was owned by one family from the early 1900's and they raised a large family in the original 4 rooms with a pot belly stove, soap stone sink, and beautiful wide panel floors.  My brother-in-law bought the house in 1969 and completely rehabed it or so "he thought."  My husband is so thorough, slow at doing things but thorough and he does things with perfection.  We had a New Year's Eve party and honestly it seemed like the house was swaying and I was afraid that we would go through the floor to the basement.  The basement was small too with a fieldstone ?foundation?that you could see the light of day and all the fuel was going out through the cracks.  Then there was a crawl space under the kitchen which was an addition at the turn of the century.  It was actually a home inspector's delight.

So we lived there in the house that was "rehabed" so to speak for a while until 1980 and then one day my husband said to me, "I am going to raise the house and put a new foundation under it." Well you can imagine how excited I was about that.  I was selling real estate at the time and a fairly new agent as of September of 1979. 

The house was in an  "L" shape with the kitchen at the back and nothing beside it.  Well my husband went ahead with the project, "hobby."  The foundation was removed and I went away for the day.  As I was leaving the bucket dozer was excavating under my house.  When I returned I could see the backyard from the front yard and I got weak in the knees.  Now mind you, my husband said we could go live with his parents who just lived about a mile away.  I love my in-laws but I knew if I left my home it would take longer to get the house finished.  Before the foundation was poured I had to walk a plank over a 10+ foot drop with a laundry basket in hand because I could put a strain on the foundation that was left after the removed the kitchen and living room wall.  It was really crazy.    I couldn't run the washer and dryer.  So off I went to the laundramat "with glee."  We had a temporary hot water heater and we had to plug into the only spot for that type of wiring and when we opened the back we had to step over the plug. My step-father couldn't believe we were living like this and said why didn't you just tear it down.  Of course, we were totally insulted by his comment.  He was right!

The house mover came to move the house and lower it 2 1/2 feet.   He did everything you would do to move a house while my son and I were in the house.  He had been sick at the time.  We didn't feel anything at all really.  So there was the house on the beams and pilings.  Then they came to pour the foundation.  That was fine until my husband came home and discovered that they didn't make allowances for the beams to be removed.  Now it was late and but the worker had to come back out with a jack hammer and make that happen.  Then there was the time when one of our friends went to the bathroom and just as he he was flushing the toilet the guys said, "Don't flush because the plumbing was in process.  It was all very interesting unless you lived here.  Funny to think of now.

Now while all this was going on the newspaper stopped being delivered, the utility companies would do work and pile dirt in our driveway so we couldn't leave.  They thought we had abandoned the house.  I don't even want to tell you that this was phase 1 of a II phase project. At this point we are at phase XVII. 

Now still in phase I we put a 2-story addition with a family room, new chimney and fireplace, and a master bedroom with a bath.  The house was no longer an "L" shape.  The roof line was changed.  We hired an electrician and he re-wired the entire house and put in circuit breakers, the whole nine yards, not to mention all new  plumbing and on and on.

So that was Phase I.  I left out a lot but isn't this enough? So now picture this please.  On returning from a nice vacation in Florida my husband turned to me and said "We are going on to take the 4 front rooms down and re-build them with all new construction, new windows, including by windows, and new front door.  So this is phase II.   We have a wonderful friend named Willy who helped my husband literally re-build our house.  It is beautiful but what we went through to make it happen.  It is nice when you can hire contractors to do the work and it gets done a whole lot sooner.  At one point you could see the basement from the attic.  The front door was boarded shut the 2nd floor stairs were off to one side.  It was a sight to behold if you were not the one living here. 

You might remember a movie with Tom Hanks and  Shelley Long "The Money Pit."  Well I could relate.  Everything co$t more than my husband thought it would.  He got to buy every tool known to man.  One thing though about my husband he is not like "Tim the Tool Man." He does everything with precision.  He is very good, but very slowwww!  He has coined this expression: "You cannot rush perfection." He has lived up to it.

So many wonderful things have happened in that house: the birth of our son, all the wonderful 4th of July parties, all the great Christmas Eve gatherings, all the meetings I had for my business, and meetings for my Women's Aglow Fellowship, our dear friends and neighborhoods - Mary & Willy who live behind us, all the baby showers, cookouts, all the sleep overs my son had, all the sleep overs my grandkids have had, all the friends and relatives that have lived with us.